1781.b.6/2

Genre/Subject Matter:

This south-southwest view inside the Masjid al-Haram of the Caaba and surrounding structures is a print of a drawing after a photograph of the same view by the Meccan photographer, and doctor, al-Sayyid ʻAbd al-Ghaffār. This photograph, in the collection of the Universiteit Leiden's Oriental Institute, is reproduced as Fig. 14 in F. E. Peters, The Hajj: The Muslim Pilgrimage to Mecca and the Holy Places, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994.

In the left background, a fortified structure can be seen. This is identified as ‘Jiyad Castle’. Some Ottoman-era buildings can be seen in the nearer background, immediately outside of the mosque, including a large pale-coloured building almost immediately below the castle. This is referred to as the Hamidiyah and is likely a building constructed during the reign of the Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II.

Numbers printed within the image refer to locations indicated in a key (in German) below the image. These are as follows: Gate of the Banī Shaybah; The Hijr [Ismail]; Building housing the Zamzam well; Stairs to the Caaba; Maqām Ibrahīm, which is also the Maqām el-Schāfi’ī’; Minbar; Maqām al-H̱anafī; Maqām al-Mālikī; Maqām al-H̱anbalī; front-side of the Hamidiyah.

Inscriptions:

Printed above image, in ink:

II

Printed beneath image, in ink:

‘Die Moschee.’

‘1. Das Thor der Benī Schēbah. 2. Das H̱idjr. 3. Gebäudes Zemzembrunnens. 4 und 5. Treppen zur Ka’bah. 6. Maqām Ibrāhīm (zugleich Maqām ès-Schāfi’ī). 7. Mimbar (Kanzel) 8. Maqām èl-H̱anafī. 9. Maqām èl-Mālikī. 10. Maqām èl-H̱ambalī. 11. Vorderseite der H̱amīdijjah. 12. Die Festung des Djijād.’

Scattered throughout image: numbers 1–12